Principal Investigator: Professor Franco Sassi
Funder: Public Health England
Duration: November 2020 - May 2021
Summary
Anecdotal evidence suggests there were large fluctuations in the availability of food in Bermuda, as while borders were closed due to the pandemic, cargo containers were still arriving, yet many were half empty. This was influenced by cheap fuel prices, which generally reduce the cost of imports. Additionally, restrictions to when people could shop for groceries meant retailers were not always able to move stock off shelves at pre-pandemic rates, while consumers panic-bought due to the reduced number of grocery store visits they were permitted to make compounded with the uncertainty of what stock would be available.
This project will assess the extent to which different types of food were more or less available during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bermuda, and to what extent different types of food were more or less affordable.
Aims
1. Understand the state of food security for the population in Bermuda throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
2. Evaluate fluctuations in the availability and affordability of different types of food over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.